New era in customer service starts in Sydney: CBD one stop shop opens
1 August 2013
NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell officially opened Sydney’s first one stop shop Service Centre in Haymarket heralding a new era in customer service.
The Haymarket Service Centre opens its doors to customers tomorrow from 7am.
"This is the delivery of a key election commitment to create one stop shops to make government transactions easier to carry out," Mr O'Farrell said.
Customers will be able to undertake a range of transactions such as those available at Roads and Maritime, Fair Trading and Births, Deaths & Marriages. More services will be added in the future.
The service centre will be open for extended hours (7am-7pm weekdays; 9am-3pm Saturdays) with customers able to make appointments so are they served quickly.
Customers will also be able to access free wi-fi while they wait or use the self-service kiosks to carry out a range of online transactions.
"Customers rightly expect the same quality of service from government as they receive from their favourite airline or retailer," Mr O'Farrell said.
"We are delivering on that expectation with this first Sydney service centre – one of an initial 18 service centres being opened around the State in 2013.
"I am determined to see an improvement in customer service delivery in the public sector and the early signs are very encouraging," he said.
Mr O'Farrell said the first service centre opened in Kiama in July and had received consistent customer satisfaction scores of more than 4.8 out of 5.
"Customers are certainly responding well to the extended hours, the ability to make appointments, the self-service kiosks, and more importantly, friendly and personal customer service from our well trained staff.
"We have also launched a new 24/7 phone service - 13 77 88 - and customer transaction web portal www.service.nsw.gov.au which provides access to customers day or night all year round.
Mr O’Farrell said the NSW Government handled around 40 million customer transactions a year through nearly 400 shopfronts, 30 call centres, 800 websites and more than 8,000 phone numbers.
"This is not an efficient use of taxpayers’ money and critically none of these services join up so it’s no surprise customers have been crying out for change.
"We have heard that message loud and clear and Service NSW is now building the foundations of a true one stop shop service model where a customer can complete a range of transactions in the one location," Mr O'Farrell said.
The initial rollout of the Service Centres includes the following locations:
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Mr O’Farrell was joined by the Customer Service Commissioner Michael Pratt and Service NSW Chief Executive Officer Glenn King, both of whom have come from the private sector to deliver on the NSW Government’s Simpler Government Plan.
Mr Pratt said the Service NSW model was not unfamiliar in the private sector although was heralding a new change in the way the public sector dealt with citizens as customers.
"We have borrowed from the experiences people now find common in the retail, airline and banking industries," Mr Pratt said.
"That's why we've partnered with companies like Virgin Australia to deliver a step change in customer service delivery.
"I look forward to assisting the Premier on new initiatives to make life easier for our customers so they spend less time dealing with government," he said.